Word.ws English Dictionary

muzzling

muzzling is the present participle and gerund of muzzle.

Meaning of muzzle

Verb

muzzle (third-person singular simple present muzzles, present participle muzzling, simple past and past participle muzzled)

  1. (transitive) To bind or confine an animal's mouth by putting a muzzle, as to prevent it from eating or biting.
    • Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 25:4
    Synonyms:
    bemuzzle
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To restrain (from speaking, expressing opinion or acting); to gag; to silence; to censor.
    • Those who want to muzzle everyone else are likely nothing less than pseudovirtuous.
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To veil, mask, muffle.
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To fondle with the closed mouth; to nuzzle.
    • Venus her self would sit Muzzling and Gazing them in the Eyes1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC
  5. (intransitive) To bring the muzzle or mouth near.
    • The Bear comes directly up to him, Muzzles and Smells to him.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC

See all 11 meanings of muzzle

Noun

muzzling (plural muzzlings)

  1. The act of placing a muzzle on an animal.
    • […] the destruction of all dogs […] is totally unnecessary. The results obtained by strict enforcement of muzzlings seem to justify its recommendation.1902, Pennsylvania. Dept. of Agriculture, Annual Report, page 529

Forms of muzzling

pluralmuzzlings

Questions about muzzling

What does muzzling mean?
Muzzling means the act of placing a muzzle on an animal.
What is muzzling the present participle and gerund of?
Muzzling is the present participle and gerund of muzzle.
What part of speech is muzzling?
Muzzling is a noun.
What is the plural of muzzling?
The plural of muzzling is muzzlings.

Words near muzzling in the dictionary

  1. muzzlers
  2. muzzles
  3. muzzlest
  4. muzzleth
  5. muzzlewood
  6. muzzling
  7. muzzlings
  8. muzzock
  9. muzzocks
  10. Muzzubee
  11. Muzzubees

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: muzzling (page history and authors); muzzle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “muzzling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/muzzling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.